Seeing your infinite form
With many mouths, eyes, arms, thighs, feet,
Stomachs, and many fearful teeth;
The worlds are trembling with fear

Seeing Your great effulgent
And various-colored form touching the sky;
Your mouth wide open and large shining eyes;
I am frightened and find
Neither peace nor courage, O Krishna.

Seeing Your mouths, with fearful teeth,
Glowing like fires of cosmic dissolution,
I lose my sense of direction and find no comfort.
Have mercy on me! O Lord of gods,
Refuge of the universe.

The sons of Dhritaraashtra
along with the hosts of kings;
Bheeshma, Drona, and Karna Together
with chief warriors on our side

Are also quickly entering into Your fearful mouths
Having terrible teeth.
Some are seen caught in between the teeth
With their heads crushed.

As many torrents of the rivers
Rush toward the ocean, similarly,
Those warriors of the mortal world
Are entering Your blazing mouths.

As moths rush with great speed
into the blazing flame for destruction,
Similarly all these people are rapidly rushing
Into Your mouths for destruction.

You are licking up all the worlds with Your flaming mouths,
Swallowing them from all sides.
Your powerful radiance is burning the entire universe,
And filling it with splendor, O Krishna.

Tell me who are You in such a fierce form?
My salutations to You, O best of gods, be merciful!
I wish to understand You,
the primal Being, because I do not know Your mission.

Krishna said:
I am death,
The mighty destroyer of the world, out to destroy.
Even without your participation all the warriors
Standing arrayed in the opposing armies
Shall cease to exist.

Therefore, you get up and attain glory.
Conquer your enemies and enjoy a prosperous kingdom.
All these have already been destroyed by Me.
You are only an instrument, O Arjuna.

Kill Drona, Bheeshma, Jayadratha, Karna,
And other great warriors who are already killed by Me.
Do not fear. You will certainly conquer
The enemies in the battle, therefore, fight!

>Sanjaya said:
Having heard these words of Krishna;
The crowned Arjuna, trembling with folded hands,
Prostrated with fear and spoke to Krishna in a choked voice.

Arjuna said:
Rightly, O Krishna, the world delights
And rejoices in glorifying You.
Terrified demons flee in all directions.
The hosts of Siddhas bow to You in adoration.

Why should they not, O great soul,
Bow to You, the original creator
Who is even greater than Brahmaa?
O infinite Lord, O God of gods, O abode of the universe,
You are both Sat and Asat, and
The imperishable Brahman that is beyond both.

You are the primal God, the most ancient Person.
You are the ultimate resort of all the universe.
You are the knower, the object of knowledge,
And the supreme abode. The entire universe
Is pervaded by You, O Lord of the infinite form.

You are Vaayu, Yama, Agni, Varuna, Shashaanka,
And Brahmaa as well as the father of Brahmaa.
Salutations to You a thousand times,
And again and again salutations to You.

My salutations to You from front and from behind.
O Lord, my obeisances to You from all sides.
You are infinite valor and the boundless might.
You pervade everything, and therefore
You are everywhere and in everything.

Considering You merely as a friend,
Not knowing Your greatness,
I have inadvertently addressed You
As O Krishna, O Yadava, O friend;
Merely out of affection or carelessness.

In whatever way I may have insulted You
In jokes; while playing, reposing in bed,
Sitting, or at meals; when alone,
Or in front of others; O Krishna,
I implore You for forgiveness.

You are the father of this animate and inanimate world,
And the greatest guru to be worshipped.
No one is even equal to You in the three worlds;
How can there be one greater than You?
O Being of Incomparable Glory.

Therefore, O adorable Lord, I seek Your grace
By bowing down and prostrating my body before You.
Bear with me as a father to his son,
As a friend to a friend,
And as a husband to his wife, O Lord.

I am delighted by beholding
That which has never been seen before,
And yet my mind is tormented with fear.
Show me that form. O God of gods,
The refuge of the universe have mercy!

I wish to see You with a crown,
Holding mace and discus in Your hand.
O Lord with thousand arms and universal form,
Appear in the four-armed form.

Krishna said:
O Arjuna, being pleased with you
I have shown you, through My own yogic powers,
This supreme, shining, universal, infinite,
And primal form of Mine that has never
Been seen before by anyone other than you.

Neither by study of the Vedas,
Nor by Yajna, nor by charity, nor by rituals,
Nor by severe austerities, can I be seen
in the cosmic form in this human world
By anyone other than you, O Arjuna. (11.48)>

Do not be perturbed and deluded
By seeing such a terrible form of Mine as this.
With fearless and cheerful mind,
Now behold My four-armed form.